Featured Articles

A video tribute to Alex Chilton and Big Star from our second DVD, Best of the South Issue, 2008.

From the first issue of The Oxford American, a short story by Barry Hannah.

Editor Marc Smirnoff remembers Barry Hannah.

Others do it, why shouldn't I?

Remembering Dale Hawkins.

Recovering a lost cuisine.

 A few years ago, in Los Angeles’ primordial past, herds of taco trucks roamed the land, bringing carne asada and lengua to construction workers, late-night club-dwellers, and hotties with headshots. Their success led to an evolutionary bloom in the trucks, spawning mobile versions of everything from cupcakes to "sushi burritos". Not long ago, real live Southern food joined the ecosystem.

John T. Edge, THE OA's food columnist and our guest editor for the Southern food issue, visits a group of African-American farmers in Alabama who are reclaiming their land through a collective strength.

2010 Southern Food Poll

Is fresh, local food becoming a luxury item?

In honor of Barry Hannah, whose writing appeared in the first issue of The Oxford American and in many subsequent issues of the magazine, we reprint this interview conducted with him just after the publication of his novel Yonder Stands Your Orphan in 2001.

As a preview to our Southern Food Issue 2010—available in early March—we present Todd Kliman’s evocative tale of food, passion, and pursuit. Todd Kliman critiques restaurants for a living, but this one chef, Peter Chang, this perfect chef, has definitely pierced his professional composure.

John Jeremiah Sullivan remembers Vic Chesnutt.

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. Educated young woman—smart, pretty, curious, musically gifted, a little shy—graduates from college and goes to a big city (Chicago), meets a guy (a musician), meets his friends, a creative group of likeminded fellows also passionate about music. She’s accepted into the group—and why not? She’s got the creds. She’s played the piano by ear since she was four years old—in churches, schools, and nightclubs—and her repertoire includes gospel, blues, r&b, classical, jazz.

Even in the latter days of rock, few things can bring you back to a moment like music.